Party Like It's 1999

Stratics VeteranStratics LegendCampaign Supporter

The year is 1999. It's early in the year, Ultima Online is almost two years old. Sosaria has divided into two armed camps, the blues and the reds. Never open an abandoned chest without checking it for traps. Always have the word "guard" in your "bank" macro. Preferably hide as soon as your bank box opens.

If you have 2000gp in your pack, it's time to go to the bank and get rid of it, before someone, or several someone's, help themselves to it. You have a war axe of vanquishing in your bank box. The only time you take it out is when there is less than an hour to go before server maintenance, and then you run, probably on foot, to Brit graveyard to thump some heads and destroy some armour.

There are also the sheep, and the wolves. The wolves know how to play the game, get ahead. Most of them have made their first million. A lot of them are in the red camp. Then there are the sheep. They get all excited when their resisting spells hits 70, or they have 100,000gp !!! in their bank box.

Fast forward fifteen years. I used to be a sheep, "back in the day". Sometime in the intervening years I created a character on a shard that I had never played before. But I've heard there is some good pvp to be had on this shard. I log on to that character. He has his appropriate skills at 50. But he is naked, with almost nothing on him. No gold, no weapons, an empty bank box - I think he may have had some kind of holiday ticket or two from the past few years. I'm not sure he even had a spell book.

Ok, I could have deleted the character and remade him to at least get that 1000gp and maybe a spell book. Or I could have done some begging, and probably someone would have helped. But I was too lazy to create a new character, and I didn't feel like begging. I felt safer, but something about the situation reminded me of 1999.

Fast forward a few weeks. I have an extremely crappy Shame suit, but it keeps me alive. I've made enough gold to keep myself supplied with bandages and reagents. I'm stock piling resources. My stats are set at their final destination. Some very nice person did give me a couple of power scrolls so I could keep training evaluate intelligence and animal lore - yes, a tamer. I have a stable full of useful newbie pets - who knew that ruddy bouras were such amazing tanks? I will be shipping in a proper suit sometime in the next few weeks, and my character is well on the way to being fully trained.

It clearly isn't 1999. I'm not a sheep anymore. I know how to play the game. I know how to start with nothing, and have fun doing it. And I've discovered that yes, the game is accessible to new and returning players starting from scratch - who know a lot. There's the real rub. I know where to get information on the fastest way to gain skills. I know that some nice person always has a crystal and corrupted portal in their vendor house that anyone can use. I know a lot.

And that is the biggest barrier for new players to overcome - knowledge and experience. You can give a new or returning player a basic suit, and a cheque for a million gold pieces, and that will make them happy. But what they really need is someone to spend a few minutes of their time telling them where to find information - telling them about uo.stratics.com, and uoguide.com. They need someone to share a few hunting secrets, and explain how to ignore the pvp-yahoo-wolf-wannabes in general chat, so they can actually use general chat to ask questions and get information.

Most of all they need someone to give them a few tips on how to get ahead. What can they do to make gold that will actually help them put together their first decent suit. I've got a very substantial care package coming to my new character. New and returning players won't have that. I may have partied like it was 1999, but it isn't anymore. The game is more complex than it was and there's a lot to learn, and the best thing you can do with that newbie that has just joined the party, is to share some of your hard won knowledge, and the lessons you have learned over the years.

That and maybe share a few stories from 1997 - 1999, when the game was far more dangerous, and more than a few of us had our arses handed to us by a sheep, or a deer...

Stratics VeteranStratics LegendCampaign Supporter

Stratics Veteran

The year is 1999. It's early in the year, Ultima Online is almost two years old. Sosaria has divided into two armed camps, the blues and the reds. Never open an abandoned chest without checking it for traps. Always have the word "guard" in your "bank" macro. Preferably hide as soon as your bank box opens.

If you have 2000gp in your pack, it's time to go to the bank and get rid of it, before someone, or several someone's, help themselves to it. You have a war axe of vanquishing in your bank box. The only time you take it out is when there is less than an hour to go before server maintenance, and then you run, probably on foot, to Brit graveyard to thump some heads and destroy some armour.

There are also the sheep, and the wolves. The wolves know how to play the game, get ahead. Most of them have made their first million. A lot of them are in the red camp. Then there are the sheep. They get all excited when their resisting spells hits 70, or they have 100,000gp !!! in their bank box.

Fast forward fifteen years. I used to be a sheep, "back in the day". Sometime in the intervening years I created a character on a shard that I had never played before. But I've heard there is some good pvp to be had on this shard. I log on to that character. He has his appropriate skills at 50. But he is naked, with almost nothing on him. No gold, no weapons, an empty bank box - I think he may have had some kind of holiday ticket or two from the past few years. I'm not sure he even had a spell book.

Ok, I could have deleted the character and remade him to at least get that 1000gp and maybe a spell book. Or I could have done some begging, and probably someone would have helped. But I was too lazy to create a new character, and I didn't feel like begging. I felt safer, but something about the situation reminded me of 1999.

Fast forward a few weeks. I have an extremely crappy Shame suit, but it keeps me alive. I've made enough gold to keep myself supplied with bandages and reagents. I'm stock piling resources. My stats are set at their final destination. Some very nice person did give me a couple of power scrolls so I could keep training evaluate intelligence and animal lore - yes, a tamer. I have a stable full of useful newbie pets - who knew that ruddy bouras were such amazing tanks? I will be shipping in a proper suit sometime in the next few weeks, and my character is well on the way to being fully trained.

It clearly isn't 1999. I'm not a sheep anymore. I know how to play the game. I know how to start with nothing, and have fun doing it. And I've discovered that yes, the game is accessible to new and returning players starting from scratch - who know a lot. There's the real rub. I know where to get information on the fastest way to gain skills. I know that some nice person always has a crystal and corrupted portal in their vendor house that anyone can use. I know a lot.

And that is the biggest barrier for new players to overcome - knowledge and experience. You can give a new or returning player a basic suit, and a cheque for a million gold pieces, and that will make them happy. But what they really need is someone to spend a few minutes of their time telling them where to find information - telling them about uo.stratics.com, and uoguide.com. They need someone to share a few hunting secrets, and explain how to ignore the pvp-yahoo-wolf-wannabes in general chat, so they can actually use general chat to ask questions and get information.

Most of all they need someone to give them a few tips on how to get ahead. What can they do to make gold that will actually help them put together their first decent suit. I've got a very substantial care package coming to my new character. New and returning players won't have that. I may have partied like it was 1999, but it isn't anymore. The game is more complex than it was and there's a lot to learn, and the best thing you can do with that newbie that has just joined the party, is to share some of your hard won knowledge, and the lessons you have learned over the years.

That and maybe share a few stories from 1997 - 1999, when the game was far more dangerous, and more than a few of us had our arses handed to us by a sheep, or a deer...

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Oh man... I forgot about the trapped box gag. Even better was when someone died, you just stay hidden for a bit, then some other chump comes by... sees a dead body ripe for looting! Then when they grab an armor piece you call the guards and they get guard whacked and you are free to loot them. Good times.

Oh man... I forgot about the trapped box gag. Even better was when someone died, you just stay hidden for a bit, then some other chump comes by... sees a dead body ripe for looting! Then when they grab an armor piece you call the guards and they get guard whacked and you are free to loot them. Good times.

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Or when you did the trap box in town. The guy has a peek in and dies, you run over chop his body up into bones. Chuck a Vanq weapon on his body. Everyone thinks he is lootible and every time someone grabs the Vanq weapon you shout guards get them guard whacked and loot their body. Laugh all day long.

Stratics Veteran

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Or when you did the trap box in town. The guy has a peek in and dies, you run over chop his body up into bones. Chuck a Vanq weapon on his body. Everyone thinks he is lootible and every time someone grabs the Vanq weapon you shout guards get them guard whacked and loot their body. Laugh all day long.

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We also left poisoned food around bank when I was one of the only people I knew who had poisoning at all, and my friend had macroed him self up to GM alch (which was quite rare at the time) and could make the better poisons.

Stratics Veteran

Ha, remember when people used to release dragons at the bank? Mass pandemonium, and lots of crazy fun.

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Also before that back when like only a few people could tame dragons, they didn't really listen to you, and any time you fed them they would attack someone (or something like that, can't remember clearly) and if someone walked onto the screen it would attack them and frequently 1hko them with a fireball....

It was a real adventure dragging some of my first tamed dragons across the land trying to keep them from killing everyone we encountered hah.

We also left poisoned food around bank when I was one of the only people I knew who had poisoning at all, and my friend had macroed him self up to GM alch (which was quite rare at the time) and could make the better poisons.

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I also remember that who ever made the trap boxes got the murder count for it killing someone. We used to send loads of crafters red. Oh boy the good old days lol

Stratics Veteran

Wow, memories. I remember how I came to make my thief. To me, nobles (the npcs) had a ton of money on them, which was about 500gp. I came to the conclusion that the best way to make gold was to steal it from nobles rather than escorting them.

It worked out very well for me but eventually I decided to start aiming for bigger game and steal from other players.

The only things I remember from first playing were A) Hating the game until a woman on AOL Legends named Jove and I fought a bunch of earth eles in Despise. B) A lich in Moonglow Cemetary. And C) My wife and I grinding cotton in the fields near moonglow and creating bolts of cloth to sell to tailors for gold.

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

Wow, memories. I remember how I came to make my thief. To me, nobles (the npcs) had a ton of money on them, which was about 500gp. I came to the conclusion that the best way to make gold was to steal it from nobles rather than escorting them.

It worked out very well for me but eventually I decided to start aiming for bigger game and steal from other players.

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Yeah i remember killing many a seaker of adventure..... lol remember when they added in the archer guards that would pop out? because people were making to much ez gold?

Stratics Veteran

Yeah i remember killing many a seaker of adventure..... lol remember when they added in the archer guards that would pop out? because people were making to much ez gold?

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They also carried some nice items, sometimes invulnerability and vanquishing. I don't know how long that had been going on, but it became common knowledge sometime after the introduction of the 5-minute timer. So I'd snoop each to see which was worth taking outside town.

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

Farming dreadlords with my old buddies on Atlantic, both for the complete satisfaction of sending them into stat loss, and to hear the greatest dialogue lines ever spoken by UO npc's:
"Ah, a head! Let me check to see if there is a bounty on this."

More than anything though I really do miss the wall-to-wall people everywhere you went.

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

Camping a 7x7 IDOC and competing with other players for the chance to place, back

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Camping a 7x7 house that was just named In Danger of Collapsing for 8 hours back when the odds of finding an open housing spot were about as good as the odds of winning the lottery. I did this at what i thought at the time my first idoc was.

Stratics VeteranAlumniStratics Legend

Getting killed by small mammals due to insufficient combat skill and health.

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Omg I had a seer (I think I can't remember the robe color) come check on me at one time. I was upset because my str wasn't going up. The seer told me I should try wrestling that llama. Ok! Uh... insta-dead. I bet whoever that was is still laughing at me...

Stratics VeteranAlumniStratics Legend

Man, the guy I had found to play with (in brit GY) had always wondered why I died so easily. Turns out he had ... well not AOL. Once we figured out my fps was -32 we learned how to keep me alive longer.

Stratics Veteran

Wow, memories. I remember how I came to make my thief. To me, nobles (the npcs) had a ton of money on them, which was about 500gp. I came to the conclusion that the best way to make gold was to steal it from nobles rather than escorting them.

It worked out very well for me but eventually I decided to start aiming for bigger game and steal from other players.

Click to expand...

You should have been using "enticement" to lure them out of the guard zone, and then kill them and sell their pure black sandals for big bucks!

The lengths I'd go to in order to protect my house key was insane. lol

Lived on a boat I placed on a little stream inside the Trinsic walls for about a week. That didn't work out at all for several reasons lol. But I tried everything. Even had a tent once, those sucked as bad as the boat.

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Anyone remember the Inticement skill? Lured many of Nobles outta town for their goods and $$$, lured the tailors out for their black sandles. I went red one day from that lol! but cant remember what had changed with the game because I did it for sooo long.

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

Did you notice alot of you remember what may be the totaly real reason Fel emptyed out so fast to the tram side....
Poison food, traped boxes, bodys set up for guard wacking... Pks dry looting even the poor players runes..
It must have been so fun taking advantage of the small mice of the game to get your jollys.
Over the years from the time of beta btw.. I have witnessed tons of horrors like what is described above.
Dont get me wrong, I know its part of the history of the games growth to what it is now...
But the op did point out something we lack.... a reason to work at the game.
The lack of reason to play for those who need one that is... I find the game full of things to do.
Now I do wish we still had the old ways and armor ..way simpler but i guess if your gunna live in the jetson's age you best get ready for the game to have blasters .....

Stratics VeteranSupporter

Did you notice alot of you remember what may be the totaly real reason Fel emptyed out so fast to the tram side....
Poison food, traped boxes, bodys set up for guard wacking... Pks dry looting even the poor players runes..
It must have been so fun taking advantage of the small mice of the game to get your jollys.
Over the years from the time of beta btw.. I have witnessed tons of horrors like what is described above.
Dont get me wrong, I know its part of the history of the games growth to what it is now...
But the op did point out something we lack.... a reason to work at the game.
The lack of reason to play for those who need one that is... I find the game full of things to do.
Now I do wish we still had the old ways and armor ..way simpler but i guess if your gunna live in the jetson's age you best get ready for the game to have blasters .....

Click to expand...

Ya but the first time you won a fight against a group of PK's changed the whole game. No longer were you a sheep but now it was a level field. Tram certainly has it'd advantages but the moment it opened UO would never be the same game it was.

Stratics Veteran

About a year ago now I remember running down to despise- standard speed path thru fire teleporter- and I glimpsed two harmless characters topside and thought nothing of it. I continued.

Around 30 seconds later my brain overheated. Harmless characters in felucca fire? Were those drakes at their side?

Now I have questions. I immediately went searching for said duo. Upon reaching them my first question was "What are you doing?" To which they replied "exploring"

My brain was not prepared for this. What do I do? Give them money? Items? Kill them? Escort them to safety? Warn them of danger? I am pretty sure my brain overloaded because I do not remember what happened next, nor did I ever see another new player in ultima.

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

About a year ago now I remember running down to despise- standard speed path thru fire teleporter- and I glimpsed two harmless characters topside and thought nothing of it. I continued.

Around 30 seconds later my brain overheated. Harmless characters in felucca fire? Were those drakes at their side?

Now I have questions. I immediately went searching for said duo. Upon reaching them my first question was "What are you doing?" To which they replied "exploring"

My brain was not prepared for this. What do I do? Give them money? Items? Kill them? Escort them to safety? Warn them of danger? I am pretty sure my brain overloaded because I do not remember what happened next, nor did I ever see another new player in ultima.

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That is most unusual! Most days, and I have done this quite recently, I can run in Felucca from Trinsic to Vesper on foot on GL and never see one other player. Of course, I can do that in Trammel also and not see one other player. I don't know where everyone is, I know people still play, but you only rarely see them, except at Luna, but I hate banksitting. We're too spread out, I guess.

Did you notice alot of you remember what may be the totaly real reason Fel emptyed out so fast to the tram side....
Poison food, traped boxes, bodys set up for guard wacking... Pks dry looting even the poor players runes..
It must have been so fun taking advantage of the small mice of the game to get your jollys.
Over the years from the time of beta btw.. I have witnessed tons of horrors like what is described above.
Dont get me wrong, I know its part of the history of the games growth to what it is now...
But the op did point out something we lack.... a reason to work at the game.
The lack of reason to play for those who need one that is... I find the game full of things to do.
Now I do wish we still had the old ways and armor ..way simpler but i guess if your gunna live in the jetson's age you best get ready for the game to have blasters .....

Click to expand...

Yeah but some of us never left fel and still see them as the good old days

Stratics Veteran

The lengths I'd go to in order to protect my house key was insane. lol

Lived on a boat I placed on a little stream inside the Trinsic walls for about a week. That didn't work out at all for several reasons lol. But I tried everything. Even had a tent once, those sucked as bad as the boat.

Click to expand...

Oh man house keys! One time a guy I had befriended stole my house key, but luckily I was also a thief, and had both our backpacks open so I luckily stole it back... Close one though.

I remember the elaborate cons people would go through after stealing someones house key to get them to also put their house run in their bag, so they could steal that too, and dry loot everything that person had. Dangerous times.

Stratics Veteran

Did you notice alot of you remember what may be the totaly real reason Fel emptyed out so fast to the tram side....
Poison food, traped boxes, bodys set up for guard wacking... Pks dry looting even the poor players runes..
It must have been so fun taking advantage of the small mice of the game to get your jollys.
Over the years from the time of beta btw.. I have witnessed tons of horrors like what is described above.
Dont get me wrong, I know its part of the history of the games growth to what it is now...
But the op did point out something we lack.... a reason to work at the game.
The lack of reason to play for those who need one that is... I find the game full of things to do.
Now I do wish we still had the old ways and armor ..way simpler but i guess if your gunna live in the jetson's age you best get ready for the game to have blasters .....

Click to expand...

I agree when the game first came out there rules were far too loose. There was really no reason NOT to just go wild and do whatever, and no way to really stop anyone from doing something nefarious.

But really by the time Tram came about much of that was pretty well under control. Statloss for reds really curtailed a LOT of the nasty behavior, because raising skills was so hard, people didn't want to have their characters destroyed.

Putting more community tools for dealing with "naughty" people was a good idea, but Trammel was not the right solution. It was the easy, and lazy solution. Rather than actually tackling the issues while trying to maintain the integrity of the experience, they just ignored it and simply cut out those elements of human interaction, and lost a TON of what made it unique and fun.

For example, if anyone remembers it, the "Angel Island" idea. The idea removed killed reds from the population for a while, but didn't stop game play for the reds. They had to either serve out their time on the island, or they could raise crafting skills to get out faster, or they could have tried to breakout which would require outside assistance. It was a great idea, but would have required a lot of work.
An idea like that would have helped deal with the issues, but maintained the essence of the game.

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

Over the last few years when I see a (young) or new player *not all keep their young status, some by choice other s by being tricked*
I take the time to ask if there are any questions or needs, within reason of course.
Yes, some have asked for things that tell you ether they are Not new or they have knowlage of the game then the average new players dont.
A lrc suit that is not the greatest in stats or durability, a weapon or spell book, a few rune books to get them going laced with a few major places fully charged, a pet to ride if they are not young, and if young a 100k check and point them to the nearest stable or to mag if there are sellers with bug or any other pet for riding that is up to their speed. Oh and a how to book lesson in getting around.
First off of all this is I make sure they have the web page for Stratics marked and how to nav the pages, and I also add in UOguide too.
I want them to read up and get to know what UO has to offer..

Our beginning we didnt have this ... it was sink or swim.
Todays kids are not into sinking...........

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